The Beach Boys

GLORIOUSLeader

Here is the story of a man who wanted to make music.

The Beach Boys were one of the most popular bands of the 1960s, bar none. Their commercial success was bested by perhaps only the Beatles. And with the recording of Pet Sounds, they reached critical acclaim as well, since it is one of the pioneering albums of psychedelia and baroque pop, and unlike Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, not boring. "Good Vibrations" was also released in this year, 1966, and it is one of the greatest songs of all time (though the fact that it's only their 5th best song says a lot about the talent of the Beach Boys Brian Wilson.

And then "Good Vibrations" lost the Grammy for Best Pop Performance to "Flowers on the Wall", which you have never heard of if you haven't watched Pulp Fiction. And Pet Sounds was a relative commercial failure, reaching only 10 on the charts. At this point, Brian Wilson was destroying his life and sanity with LSD. He met with Van Dyke Parks to record Smile, but the other members of the Beach Boys didn't like this new style of music, because they felt it wasn't commercially viable and wanted to perform easier songs live. His reliance on amphetamines, LSD, and prescription drugs, coupled with the Beach Boys' refusal to record, heated disputes with Capitol Records, public apathy to Pet Sounds, and Carl Wilson's draft-dodging, completely broke him and shelved what could've been the greatest album of all time (instead of merely the one of greatest albums of all time).

And so began the decline of what could be considered the greatest and most influential American artists of the 20th century. Sad, isn't it?

Myrmidon

Hey, you aren't Don Zabu.

GLORIOUSLeader

why would you say that

Wicked223

Don Zabu is the resident Beach Boys fanatic.

Anyway, the original SMiLE sessions are being released on November 1st. Too little, too late, I suppose.

GLORIOUSLeader

Better than nothing. Some of the songs on my bootleg Smile, like "Barnyard," have ungodly atrocious quality.

BTW, best Beach Boys songs, in order:

5) Good Vibrations

4) Wouldn't It Be Nice

3) Heroes and Villains

2) God Only Knows

1) Surf's Up

DonZabu

Yeah, I'm surprised I didn't start this thread, too.

Anyway, GL, have you heard this yet?

That's a sample from the upcoming box set. Sounds great, right?

GLORIOUSLeader

Of course it does! It's on vinyl! 

Great song, if that's what you mean.

DonZabu

I mean "sounds great" as in "better fidelity compared to the bootlegs".

GLORIOUSLeader

Well, yeah, that too.

I do know that audio quality is not everything in a song. The original "Surf's Up" beats the Brian Wilson version by a mile, for example.

DonZabu

Indeed.

I'm just looking forward to seeing how the other recordings sound. Like you said, a cleaned-up Barnyard would be a godsend.